Be Thankful.

For the month of November, one of the roommates decided we should put up a poster and write something we are thankful for each day. I loved this idea! I was given the job of making the title of the poster. If you know me at all, you know this took a while. The title had to be even, neat and pretty. "It's going to be a looong night," my roommate said as I started working on it. She had no idea.

The final result!

Getting Nowhere Fast.

I'm finally back in Idaho...which I'm not exactly thrilled about. I've officially decided that I'm allergic to Idaho. Everytime I come back to this place, I get sick.

On the ride back, I took some pictures. There wasn't much else to do. We ran out of stories within the first four hours and I got to $3,000 on Sky Burger. But at least I can say that I've been through a desert.

You can kinda see some of the Grand Canyon.

"Look Simba, everything the light touches is our
kingdom." -Clarice

Some things I learned in the car on this roadtrip:

- Don't watch Cougartown on a Sunday. 

- Don't get too close to the edge of a cliff. People kinda freak.

- You have to get out of the car to avoid blood clots.

- Christmas/Church music for 15 hours is hard to do.

- In-N-Out is good!

- Saying "tell a story" = "are we there yet?"

- Sunglasses are a necessity

- Pumpkin seeds can easily get everywhere.

- It's 'Ox in the mire" not "Ox in the mill".

Thanksgiving in Arizona

For Thanksgiving, my roommates and I decided to go down to Arizona. This could most possibly be the best decision I've made this semester. It's so warm here and there are palm trees!

We ate Thanksgiving dinner at my roommate's sister's in-law's house (that was confusing). It was sooo good. The best part was being able to eat dinner outside. Never in my life have I been able to eat Thanksgiving dinner outside. It's always been too cold and snowy. We actually had to fry last year's turkey out in the snow so this weather is definitely a treat.

Thanksgiving night we went to the Mesa Temple to see the Christmas lights. They were soo pretty. We also visited the cactus garden there. Of course I had to get a picture with a cactus!

So pretty! 

I didn't realize how close I was to it.

After spending an hour or so there, we went back to the house to pack up and head down to Benson, Arizona. On the way there, we stopped at a Walmart to participate in some Black Friday chaos. Never have I ever seen a checkout line that wraps around the perimeter of the store. Definitely not something I care to relive.

We finally arrived at my roommate's house in Benson. Benson is a cute little town but when I say 'little', I mean little. Smaller than Rexburg and that's pretty amazing. I loved the house though. It's so big and cozy at the same time.

Friday morning rolled around and I was made aware of all the sales going on online. Good sales too. And I went crazy. We're lucky I still have money in my bank account 'cause I was using my debit card like no other. Too bad I didn't realize until after the fourth order that I hadn't been putting my apartment number in the address....ooops. We'll see how that goes.

The rest of the weekend was pretty relaxing and now I'm back in Mesa getting my stuff together for the trip back to Rexburg in the morning. I'm not ready to go back to snowy Idaho yet. It's too nice here. So looong lovely, warm, sunny Arizona. I shall miss you!

Ice Ice Baby.

My roommate came home the other night with her brother. They decided that they wanted to try this pizza place down the street called "Five Buck Pizza". After much debate over how much it would actually cost (yeah.. I know), her brother was ready to go order it. He didn't want to go alone and my roommate did not want to go with him. I don't blame her. It was freeeezing outside. From that last sentence, you can probably tell that I was the one who ended up walking there with him.

Once we get to the bottom of the stairwell leading down from my apartment, I find a problem. The streets are covered in black ice. My roommate's brother starts going on about how he's happy I came with him blah, blah, blah but all I'm thinking is, "Holy mother, this is ice.". I told him that I don't mind going with him on these short trips as long as he catches me when I slip on ice.

One thing you should know is that I'm pretty close to this family and have known them for a while, which explains his response to what I said. He says, "bahahaha, this is ringing some bells in my head from last winter."

Here's what happened last winter. I went ice skating. For the first time and oh boy was it an experience. I just stood on the ice and fell. I didn't even have to move my feet. I held onto my friends so tightly. But that didn't help. I still fell every five minutes or so (no exaggeration). For my last few rounds around the ice skating rink, I linked arms with my roommate's brother to keep from falling. I'm pretty sure he couldn't believe how unstable I was on the ice but, hey, whaddaya gonna do? Anyways, he kept me from falling though there were a few close calls and lots of screaming (from me). I was scared. Then a song came on the radio that I reallllly liked and decided to sing to. I was more into my song than the skating because I somehow ended up on a path that was sure to end in a collision with a lady in front of me. My roommate's brother, trying to save me from that embarrassment, pulled me to the side, which resulted in the worst fall of them all. My roommate yelled, "Way to go!" from across the rink. It was greeeeat. But hey, good memory, right?

I remember coming home that night and my father saying, "Let's see your knees." I pulled up my pant legs to show him the red and purple bruises. It stayed that way through Christmas. It was a painful few weeks. I truly despise ice. Ice is dumb.

Oh, Snow.

Winter has officially made its way to Idaho. I best get used to the slipping and sliding. I can't remember ever having as much trouble as I am now walking on the snow. I have a hard enough time trying to stay upright without the ice and slush. It has snowed for the last two saturdays. Doesn't sound like much of a problem since there's no classes on Saturdays, right? Wrong. I have a test in my DNA class every weekend until Thanksgiving break. The first saturday I was dumb and waited for the snow to stop before going out. The snow was all packed down and slippery the whole way to campus. The next saturday, thinking that I learned my lesson from the past saturday, I left the apartment as soon as possible....which meant mid-blizzard. Needless to say, I was covered in snow from head to toe after that test. Pictures were taken. It was lovely. I'm told that I need to get used to this crazy weather because it's only going to get worse from this point on. Yay.

Walking home in a blizzard. Good times :/